The Heart of SHIELD
by Awsomaniatica
Summary: S.H.I.E.L.D was comprised of many unique and talented individuals, but Nick Fury was a man of many secrets. The Spy. Even his secrets have secrets. In this case, it involves a covert team of mutants within S.H.I.E.L.D who secretly aided in the toughest of missions, including helping with the Avengers as Earth's Mightiest Heroes began to rise up. Follows through the MCU story line.
1. Prologue

_This is what I think will become the prologue of a massive story project that I have been working on for a long time. One that spans across the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I hope you enjoy it! Additional author's note at the end._

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_**The Heart of Shield**_

_Prologue_

It was as if all was at a standstill.

The clang of the heavy weapon falling to the ground broke the silence as the titan disappeared through a portal behind him. He was heavily wounded, yet escaped their grasp. Everyone stood completely worn from battle with heavy heart.

They lost. They lost Vision. They lost the time stone. They lost many brave Wakandans who pledged to fight.

Thanos had all of the stones. He still got away after the blunt force and impalement of Thor's new weapon.

"Where did he go?" Steve asked, his voice giving away how he was very drained. It was a wonder how he was still standing; how any of them were.

"Thor?" The captain asked again in a barely audible voice. The God of Thunder stood there stunned.

Alexa suddenly gasped, an overwhelming feeling come over her. She fell to her knees, weakened both at the new sensation and the recent battle. The auburn-haired woman stared out with wide green eyes at nothing in particular as she breathed heavily. All of the natural energies of living beings she could feel around her… The only way she could describe it, was that they were somehow diminishing. So many at once.

"Alexa, what is it?" Through the haze, she could barely recognize the voice belonging to Steve Rogers. He crouched down next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. Alexa Hartfield shuttered as she struggled to tilt her gaze up to meet his.

Before she could utter a word, a new voice called out to him; one that was uncertain. Alexa immediately recognized the approaching friend and his natural energy signature before she even saw him. They both turned to see Bucky Barnes almost limping towards them. Alexa inhaled deeply as she felt the depleting energy of him disappear as the physical form of Bucky Barnes vanished into ash.

Steve cautiously walked over to examined the ash now covering where the soldier once stood. Alexa shook her head and bit her lip. "They're all disappearing." The mutant breathed out.

Alexa wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes. She shook as she began to hyperventilate. "Everyone is disappearing." She kept repeating to herself.

When Alexa Hartfield first discovered she had the ability to recognize and find specific people through the natural energies they emitted, she was overwhelmed by it all. It took quite some time for her to be able to handle going to public places without being bombarded by the amount of human energies surrounding her all at once. Eventually, she learned to sift through those energies, mentally blocking them when it got too much. The mutant even learned to pin point specific energy signatures to track them. A human tracker as she was nicknamed.

Now, it was quite the opposite. The mass of energies that Alexa was used to always having around her, were completely disappearing randomly. It threw everything out of balance. Voices became muffled to her ears of people calling out to friends, gasps of disbelief and waves of agony as they discovered friends turned to dust.

"Hart!" Someone called out to her through the empty feeling as blackness came over her.

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_What do you think so far? Would you want to read more? Of course, I introduced this thing with the scene that shocked many viewers and fans of the movie, Infinity War. Alexa Hartfield is a mutant, as in relation to the X-Men. I know the MCU didn't have "rights" to the X-Men Universe, but they will exist in my story. Other well known mutants may appear briefly or in mentions._

_Fury always has had plans and secrets. His special covert team made up of mutants is one of them. Only a handful of trusted SHIELD operatives know of their true existence as they managed to keep their abilities a secret. A majority of the mutants I am bringing into the SHIELD team will be my own characters. Be aware, there will be lesser known mutants and other Marvel characters in the mix of all this. Alexa is definitely my own character._

_This massive project of a story will span throughout the MCU, including a bit with the show Agents of Shield. Most events in these will only be mentions, yet some may be expanded a bit. Of course, other things will come up during this duration of 15+ years._

_I will likely not have immediate updates as this is a big story that I am still flushing out how I want it to run. I have been rewatching MCU movies and researching characters to keep this as true as possible. I am open to future suggestions as this story progresses such as brief character appearances/mentions that you would like to see. Can be any Marvel character, not just mutants._

_Side note: I would LOVE a Beta! I know I miss mistakes that helps to have a second pair of eyes to catch._

_Thanks for reading! _


	2. Chapter 1: Test Run

_Sorry for the long wait. Life has been hectic. Aimed to get the first chapter out before the new year. Enjoy!_

_Fan Cast for my own characters: _

_Alexa played by Emma Stone (with dark red hair)_

_ Manish ("Man-eesh") played by Kunal Nayyar_

_ Donovan played by Alex Pettyfer_

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything by Marvel. Only my created characters currently listed above. The list will build a little as the story continues. Everything else references to characters in the comics and movies._

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**Chapter 1**

**Test Run**

"Where are they, Hartfield?"

The young woman in question didn't respond. Her eyes moved rapidly beneath her closed eyelids as she sat perfectly still. She held a phone tightly in one hand as the other slightly twitched once.

A moment passed before a male voice came over the comm again.

"Alexa, do you copy?"

A dark tanned man in the run-down room studied the silent woman. His dark eyes looked back at one of the screens in front of him, a glare reflecting off of his glasses. He answered the voice instead.

"She is trying to locate them now, Donovan." His eyes darted to a smaller screen before adding, "You have a group of men coming in from your left."

"We only have a small window before Diego Casseas leaves the country." Donovan said in a hushed tone.

"And then we cannot touch him." The black-haired man behind the screens added with a hint of annoyance through his faint Indian accent. "We are working on it."

His attention was soon diverted to movement out of the corner of his eye. Alexa suddenly sat up straighter, but her eyes remained closed. She paid no mind as some of her long dark auburn hair fell in front of her face. Her companion scooted closer to the keyboard in knowing anticipation. Available video feed in the area was highly monitored and he would need their human tracker to find their target so he could quickly hack into the right systems without notice.

Alexa kept her eyes shut as she spurred out a visual direction in a tranced tone. "Manish, they are currently at the old Horizon's place on Wicker Ave. Casseas has powerful guards nearby, also with some abilities. They are getting ready to head out to his private hanger."

As she spoke, the tech genius, Manish, had sped away at the keyboard. "Get all that, Donovan?" He spoke towards the comm, not taking his eyes off of his work. Donovan answered with a quick yes.

With a series of rapid taps on the keys, Manish added, "Start heading south. Location sent on your phone. Once you get to the outside wall, you will need to attach my tech sensor. I will take it from there."

Diego Casseas' security systems proved top notch and highly difficult to hack into from a distance. That did not mean that it was impossible to crack. Manish Shaheen created a small quarter sized device to sensor locate main electronic systems and devices and attach on a surface nearby to then break past any firewall. Only he currently had that specific tech in SHIELD, not wanting to give up for mass production if he could help it. The genius even created a safety program with it that he could remotely detonate to avoid outside corruption.

"Copy, that." In a quieter voice, the agent grumbled to himself, "Let's see she's actually right."

Manish paused as he narrowed his eyes at the comment he caught. "Hart has been doing this for some time, Agent Donovan. You can trust her ability."

The other side of the comm was silent after that. Manish gave a little smirk at the notion, feeling a bit prideful for silencing the powerful agent. The mutant genius got along really well with few people, taking a long time to warm up to most. Those he really liked; he became protective over. His partner was one of them.

Manish gave a glance to the young woman beside him who started to slowly blink her heavy eyelids open.

Alexa struggled to move in her physical body after pulling her mental self back. It always took a moment to recollect after she used her abilities to astral project herself elsewhere. Once she had a mental lock on the invisible string that pulled her to her target's energy signature, she would travel there in an unseen mental form in order to check the surroundings of the target's location.

"Welcome back, Hart," Manish said, pulling her further back into her physical reality. Alexa calmly let out a deep breath before attempting to stand up. The young woman gripped the back of the chair for a moment until she had full control of her footing again.

Alexa looked at the darker screen showing a map with a moving single dot indicating agent Bryce Donovan.

She quietly asked with her hand covering the speaker, "Think we can trust his source?"

The tracker mutant was a little unsure about this mission thing Director Fury decided to put the three of them on. Usually it was Alexa and Manish working together back in Manish's personal office to locate targets. She would track them down mentally according to the energy signature, personally preferred to her by using a personal item of the target for some leftover energy signature of theirs to track them with. She could without it, but it proved much more difficult.

Once Alexa found the target, she would give the location to Manish who would then pull up physical location proof to hand off to the needed personnel of SHIELD as well as any needed hacking into systems. The pair worked fluently together in this pattern to also hide their mutant abilities. There was still quite a bit of mutant discrimination going on around the world.

Now, Director Nicholas Fury decided to put the pair out in the field with an agent they never directly worked with. Alexa could instantly sense that the agent with them had some secret abilities of his own. Powerful ones at that. She did confront Fury about that fact to which he shrugged as he was already aware. Just like them, Bryce Donovan hid his abilities to fit in around others. It made Alexa wonder how many other people in SHIELD were secretly harboring powers. She was aware of one other. A pilot she became good friends with.

Manish speaking pulled her out of her thoughts, "We will have to see. Fury personally sent us on location for a reason."

Alexa nodded and looked down at the phone in her hand she used to track the target. This particular target gave off an interesting energy signature that was more powerful than a normal person.

In her years of training at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Alexa had found that every single person had their own personal energy signature. After focusing on blocking off multiple energies around her at once, she learned that she could locate specific ones. Eventually she could even sense when specific people were near if she was familiar with their energy signature.

Those who had extraordinary abilities, such as mutants, gave off a stronger energy that made it much faster to locate them. This target seemed to be one of them.

While it should have been simple to track this particular target, it proved difficult to find them while trying to move past Donovan's particularly strong energy. She would have to approach him soon about that.

"I'm here."

_Speaking of which_, Alexa mused to herself.

"Good," Manish said, "Use my sensor to locate a large electronic pulse. Then attach it to the wall. I will get you in."

"I got it." He snapped back. An icon across the bottom of the larger screen indicated that he activated the device.

Alexa leaned in towards the mic to add, "Casseas and his men are not to be taken lightly. Be careful."

"This is not my first rodeo, Hartfield. You did your part. Now let me do mine."

She gave Manish a wide-eyed look and waved her hands in annoyance at the attitude. He only shook his head in response. His eyes rapidly glazed over files of some kind. Alexa could only blankly stare at the screen as she patiently waited for something to happen.

After a moment, the icon popped back up. Manish cracked his knuckles with a grin.

"Done," Donovan simply said. "I'm heading in."

"Now for me to work my magic."

While Manish worked away at hacking into the servers, Alexa stilled, her eyes darting to the back of the room. She stared in that direction for a moment before quietly saying, "We have company heading in our direction. At least two."

Manish immediately stood up and reached for a small gadget sitting behind one of the monitors. He punched in a few buttons and twisted the hand held device before sitting it back on the desk. A line of light scanned across the room in a sweeping fashion as large squares of light divided from it going horizontally across the entire room before they disappeared.

"No movement, no sound." The tech genius advised in a hushed tone.

He muted the comm. The pair sat perfectly still and stared at the door as it opened. A couple guys entered and looked around. One had a gun in his hand while another had a flashlight. Alexa had her hand rested on the gun on her belt. She didn't dare move to even look at her partner. The guys walked a bit into the room and quickly shined the light around.

"Are you sure you saw something in here, Garcia?" A gruff voice asked. The one holding the flashlight nodded his head as he still looked around the room.

"Yeah, there was light coming from in here a minute ago."

The flashlight moved in the pair's direction. Alexa tensed more as the light reflected back at guys.

"That's weird." The man called Garcia said, obviously noticing the detail.

His buddy stood up straight and put away his gun. He brushed it off. "It's probably coming back off a window or something."

The men turned and headed back towards the door.

"What about the light?" Garcia protested.

The other guy shrugged. "Probably some teenagers or something snooping around the old factory. We'll catch them if they show up again."

The SHIELD operatives were left in silence as the door closed. After another moment, Manish reached for his small gray device and twisted it again. The line of light and squares rushed back towards them before disappearing completely.

Alexa let out a breath of relief she didn't realize she was holding. She narrowed her eyes in confusion and turned to her friend. "How did they not see us?"

Manish let out a large grin as he started back at the controls. "Reflector Shell. Good to hold for up to two minutes so far. Currently working out the flaws and possible expansion for movement while undetected."

Alexa smiled and shook her head in amazement. "Very impressive. When did you start on that one?"

"8 days ago. This was the first real life test run."

Alexa's eyes widened. Manish must have noticed because he chuckled. "I thought you would have known to trust me impeccably by now."

"No kidding." She muttered. Manish Shaheen was definitely a genius in his own right. A mighty aide in SHIELD's technology departments, often creating and reviewing projects to ensure their success. While he contributed to much of SHIELD's recent advancement, he still kept a good chunk of his own creations unknown to the agency.

Alexa stared at the smaller screen in confusion. "It's oddly quiet. Did he turn off his comm?"

Shaheen reached over to flip back on the sound he had turned off when they had to hide in plain sight moments before. The pair immediately heard sounds of something getting hit followed by a few groans and thuds.

Her mouth dropped in shock and worry. Manish went faster at the keys. Soon, he pulled up a few security cameras stationed inside the building. One faced where a tall handsome blonde young man was surrounded by a few men in dark clothing. One lied knocked out on the floor. She watched as he took another man down.

"He is quite resilient."

Alexa barely heard the comment as her eyes remained glued to the screen. From what she read in the files about Casseas, it was said that he often surrounded himself with powerful people. She could sense that Donovan was fairly strong in his own right, but something didn't sit right.

Diego Casseas was suspected to have inherited some special abilities and brought others similar to him together in an order of sorts. He was also accused of multiple allegations such as a suspicion involving his own family. He managed to evade detainment for some time as he would slip away before anyone could detain him.

A very large and bulky man with a wide pink sash wrapped around his bare torso entered in view behind Donovan while he was preoccupied with fighting a couple others. Before any warning could be spoken, the large man suddenly wrapped his massive arms around the blonde agent. Donovan struggled in the man's strong hold as the two remaining foes standing backed away, one wiping his gloved hand across his own mouth to dispose of some blood coming out.

The strong man gripped Donovan by his upper arms, forcing him to kneel. A painful cringe could be heard from the agent.

"Just when I thought the evening couldn't be livened up."

The pair watched the screen, stunned, as a man entered, flanked by four completely masked individuals. The man had dark skin and black hair that slightly stood up in the front middle along with a goatee. A large silver glove on his left hand extended to his elbow. He perfectly matched the profile given to them.

Diego Casseas.

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_Review! The next chapter will come out next year. :)_


	3. Chapter 2: Power

_Sorry for the long wait. I got back into a new semester and I started another story. _

_Before you begin reading, I failed to inform you lovely readers that this takes place a couple months after the "I am Iron Man" drop so you know where this is on the timeline._

_Disclaimer: I only own my 3 OC's revealed so far. Hartfield, Shaheen and Donovan. Everyone else belongs to Marvel._

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_**Chapter 2**_

**Power**

"Casseas," Bryce Donovan practically growled the name under the painful pressure he was held under. The large man's hands tightened around his upper arms. He struggled to hold back another wince and failed.

The man before him raised an eyebrow.

"I believe there was a failure of proper introduction, Mr…?" Casseas trailed off.

The blonde agent refused to utter another word. He let his response be a glare instead.

"I see." Diego Casseas folded his arms and looked a tad aggravated. "Manners were not taught by your father, I presume."

Donovan narrowed his eyes further with that comment. "Not as if you were father of the year either for what you did to your daughter."

Maybe he crossed the line a bit there. Normally Donovan was alright doing an in and out job without too much of a struggle. This was supposed to be a simple retrieval mission. He internally blamed the pair on the other side of his comm for not giving him any sort of warning of the large cluster in his path. Why on earth did the Director assign all of them together?

A pinching grip once again reminded Donovan how much trouble he was in.

Casseas seemed to be pondering as he took a few steps closer to the agent. His small guard stayed behind him, but kept a defensive stance.

"If you are implying that I would ever harm my own daughter, you are gravely mistaken. The accident proved that she was too fragile to handle her powerful gifts. However, one must question—" Casseas' left arm darted forward and grabbed Donovan's chin, forcing him to look up at him.

"Who sent you."

Donovan did everything in his power not to utter a word or give any emotion. The cold metal glove encasing Casseas' left hand rapidly grew warmer to the touch. He grew heavy in his breathing both due to the pain of the strong man still gripping his arms and the stare down he was forced to do with the leader of this cult circle thing.

Donovan never cared to learn the name they called themselves. He only focused on knowing what he was against. His eyes darted around the room in attempt to recognize anyone else. Casseas' muscle must be Eric Conroy. He currently didn't see anyone else specific in the room that stood out as suspected members of Casseas' group. Only some goons. They stood back and watched while armed as Casseas and Conroy held onto him.

"Donovan," A male voice sounded in his ear. "Hang tight. We will get you loose."

Donovan huffed to himself, barely resisting an eye roll. Of course, his 'team' decide to patch a message through to him at this moment. What could the two desk agents do to help now? This is why he preferred to go on missions solo or with his trusted partner who was currently deep on assignment for nearly the past month. He missed Cam.

Donovan let himself glance again behind Casseas for anything that could help him get out of this mess. His arms were currently unmovable so there went any luck for a physical attack.

Diego Casseas let go of the agent's chin, studying him carefully.

"Very well." Casseas examined his own clenched left hand. The metal rapidly darkened and glowed black. "If you have nothing for me, I have no need for you."

Donovan's eyes widened at the sight and he heard a gasp on the other end of his comm with an urge to hurry.

He was screwed.

Casseas shot his left hand forward. A black energy hit Donovan directly in the chest. The blast caused him to fall back and go limp. Conroy released the blonde agent and let him crumble to the floor, unmoving. He gave a side glance at his perpetrator with a sigh.

"A waste." He said nonchalantly. Casseas looked towards his goons. "Check the perimeter. He was not alone."

He then turned to his strong man. "Bloodstrike, get rid of him. Dump him in the river or something to make sure he's dead." As Conroy reached towards the fallen man, Casseas held up his hand, "Wait," the large man paused as he looked at his leader. "Search him first."

Before anyone else moved, the lights flickered a few times and went out. The men reacted to the darkness in yells and complaints. Emergency lights came back on, dimly illuminating portions of the building. Casseas scanned the room in deep suspicion. "Go!" He ordered his men.

He gave one last glance at the blonde agent on the floor. "His help came too late."

An explosion went off from outside, leaving a small hole in the wall.

Casseas angrily barked out orders to get up and move. His left hand glowed black again as he scanned the room. He stalled when he heard a strained voice from behind him.

"I—I beg to differ."

The agent struggled to get on his hands and knees, visibly shaking. Bloodstrike reached down to grab him by the neck. However, when the strong man's hand touched his skin, he was thrown back a few feet with a loud thud.

Donovan immediately relaxed and stood up with more ease. He looked over at Bloodstrike from the corner of his eye as the big guy groaned, yet remained on the ground. "Woo! Thanks for helping to get that out of my system."

"How?!" Casseas demanded.

Donovan shrugged as he took a stance. "You pack quite a punch, but so do I."

Casseas shot more black energy at Donovan. He moved to the side, narrowly missing it. The ball of energy instead hit one of his guys.

"Hope he's okay, though," Donovan offhandedly commented, gesturing towards the fallen goon. Casseas practically growled in response. He glanced down at his watch before turning emotionless.

_The man is running late_. Donovan thought to himself.

Even though a majority of the energy left his system when muscle man touched him and he was able to let it loose, he still felt a bit weak. _Nasty dark energy. The rumors are true on that front. Hopefully not on the other suspected ability. _

The stare down continued. Casseas finally spoke, "Clearly I have underestimated you. As much fun as I've had tonight, your time has run out."

"Sniper behind you on your left!" A feminine voice rang in his ear. Donovan dodged for the nearest wall. His back barely hit the wall when a bullet grazed the wall two feet from his head. Donovan pulled out his gun and looked back and forth towards the direction of the sniper and Casseas.

Their attention was diverted when a hand-sized metal contraption floated in through the blown-out hole in the wall.

"Donovan, duck," The agent promptly did what he was told through his ear piece. He dropped to the ground as the floating device briefly sparked with electricity before sending out an electric wave across the room, knocking out a few of Casseas' men.

Donovan's eyes widened at the sight of men scattered along the ground. He frowned as he did a quick glance over. Casseas wasn't one of them.

The man in question suddenly appeared behind him. Out of instinct, Donovan fought against the leader who held his own quite well in blocking his hits.

"Target behind you!"

Hartfield's warning threw off the agent, leading Casseas to vanish and reappear behind him and grab him in a hold. Donovan huffed in annoyance.

"Thanks a lot," he harshly whispered through his teeth. That also answered the question of Casseas' possible teleporting abilities.

The man leaned down close to his ear. Donovan cringed as he was met with a hot smelly stench of breath. "Let's see you survive this one, agent."

Casseas' hand glowed once more, this time directly in front of his face. Donovan honestly wasn't sure how he could manage to get out of this close-range attack. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark shape behind him as well. He internally prepared himself, calling forth any power left in him and willed it to his hands as the glowing hand in front of him grew with dark energy.

When the glowing hand nearly touched his face, it faltered, the energy disappearing from around it. The grip around Donovan went limp. Donovan shook off the now unconscious man. From the looks of him, he looked to be in a paralyzed state; a patch of red on his neck. Donovan immediately faced the black clad figure behind him, their hand still outstretched in front of them.

While still staring down the agent, they slowly reached up to the mask covering their whole head and pulled it off. Long black hair cascaded down her shoulders to her back. Her piercing green eyes glared Donovan down. The agent relaxed at the sight.

"Thanks for blowing my cover." She replied coolly. "I was finally starting to get some good Intel on them."

The blonde gave her a small apologetic smile. "Director's orders. You've been out of contact for weeks, Cam."

The pair turned to the sight of movement. Eric Conroy was starting to get up. Without hesitation, the woman lifted up her left hand and shot a small dart from her wrist. The dart hit the man in the neck and he slumped over, out cold.

"With his size, I give him 2 hours tops before he comes to." She turned back to Donovan. "And that's what going undercover means, _B_." She added, referring to his previous comment.

Donovan touched his comm. "We got them. All clear," Once he heard a conformation, he set to handcuffing Casseas. The man was still completely paralyzed.

Cam chuckled. "Some back-up, huh?"

Bryce Donovan gave a scoff, but otherwise remained silent.

Meanwhile, back at the abandoned factory, Alexa stared at the security screen with a frown. That mission was close to being completely botched. She should have been paying better attention to their surroundings. She had been a little nervous about this whole field assignment.

Then there was the fact that she should have realized that Donovan's source was once of their own. Carmilla Black. The agent who was best known for her covert infiltration, nearly rivaling the famous Black Widow that had joined SHIELD a couple of years ago.

With a sigh, Alexa began to help Manish in packing up their things. More agents would be coming in soon to take in Casseas and his men, now that they were finally able to secure him. She just hoped that Fury would be able to come up with a convincing excuse on why she was there in particular in order to hide her abilities.

The auburn-haired woman stacked the files before she stilled, sensing a really strong energy signature appear nearby. One she had never felt before practically seeping in great power. Alexa again peered at the screen to see Donovan and Black now securing the rest of Casseas' unconscious men. She searched for anything amiss. They seemed to be unconcerned.

Alexa straightened up and stared at the wall in deep concentration. She could still sense the strange energy, yet was not able to locate it.

"Alexa?" She slightly jumped at the sound of her name. Manish looked at her in concern.

"Are you alright?"

Alexa nodded her head and forced a reassuring smile. "I'm ready to go when you are,"

The genius gave her a long look to which she chose to ignore as she continued packing. Soon, the pair left out the door with everything in tow. Alexa mentally scanned the area for any possible trouble. The only thing she could pick up was the strange energy signature that continued to linger.

_Am I feeling a little paranoid after tonight?_ She wondered. Alexa gave one last glance back before following Manish out.

In the darkness, a hooded figure in a light-colored robe peered around the column of the now empty area, studying after the leaving pair with interest. A gust of wind blew a few leaves across the concrete. The hooded figure was no longer there.

* * *

_Alexa Hartfield is the main character of this story, but I will have some chapters like this that focus on some other characters. Carmilla Black is an actual Marvel character. I was looking up potential characters to include and knew I had to use her, replacing my early draft of an OC. I will definitely name which characters are mine. The rest belong to the world of Marvel. I hope that I do every one of them justice._

_ I can take a few Marvel comics suggestions to have as cameos. Again, I will be following along the MCU timeline, altering a few things along the way._

_Thanks for reading and don't forget to drop a review!_


	4. Chapter 3: Repercussion

_**Repercussion**_

The mission should have gone better.

It wasn't quite botched. They did catch Casseas and one of his heavy hitter associates. In doing so, they had put the field agent they were supposed to guide, in danger. Luckily, Agent Donovan had an ace up his sleeve in the form of his hidden mutant abilities which somehow saved his life.

Alexa studied the handsome agent across the room, trying to piece together what he was capable of. With her energy signature sensing, she could not only find an individual with their specific signature, but if they had extra abilities, she could usually get a feel of what and the strength of special powers that they possessed. It wasn't always full proof on figuring out exactly what the abilities were, yet their energies radiated a stronger signature that made them easier to find.

Now that she was in the near vicinity of Donovan, she could sense that his ability had something to do with the pulsing of energy.

Then there was his insider who saved him too. Agent Carmilla Black. Bryce Donovan's regular partner.

Alexa couldn't help the vague negativity she felt around the female agent in general. Agent Black had this aloofness about her, as if she was naturally better than most. Alexa couldn't pinpoint if Black was necessarily a mutant. There was something there about her that hinted the field agent could be a dangerous asset. As if she internally possessed something that could be lethal. It made Alexa's skin crawl being close to her.

The dark-haired woman stood next to Donovan, slowly tapping her fingers on her crossed arms. She narrowly stared at the Director as they all stood in his office to give reports about their latest mission. Agent Phil Coulsen, a close confidant of Director Fury stood in the back of the room to observe. Manish Shaheen stood next to him while fiddling with a metal contraption out of boredom.

"What was last night?" Donovan spoke calmly, yet you could see his eyes fuming.

Director Nick Fury clasped his hands in front of him from behind his desk. He patiently scanned the occupants of the room with his good eye.

"I call that a success. We apprehended Diego Casseas and Eric Conroy where no one else could."

"Then why was I pulled out?" Black demanded. She didn't bother hiding her irritation. "I had things under control."

"We hadn't received a single transmission from you in over two weeks."

"I was deep undercover—"

Fury stopped her with a raise of his hand. She huffed in annoyance.

"As I do appreciate your work, Agent Black, we got what we needed to finally apprehend him. Especially since his comatose daughter passed. Now to find the rest of Left Hand's Circle gang or whatever they call themselves."

Agent Black spoke again, "And you only sent two desk agents for Bryce's back up when you knew how dangerous the Folding Circle was. I had to blow my cover!" She gestured to Alexa in particular. "What did _she_ ever do?!"

"I was the one who finally found you!" Alexa blurted out.

Donovan turned and gave his _team_ a look over. "That actually brings me to my next question." He said. "I was given an obviously weak excuse on Hartfield's special way of finding targets through, what was it, behavioral analysis while using chemical components? She's technically considered a SHIELD consultant or whatever! And Shaheen from the tech department was the other one to have my back."

"Not as if you wanted our help." Manish casually mentioned.

Donovan continued, "Why weren't they working the case remotely in a lab—unless there was a hidden purpose for both of them being on site?"

Donovan paused to give Director Fury an incriminating look. "Correct me if I'm wrong."

Bryce Donovan turned to Manish then Alexa, waiting for a response. Black gave a side look of interest.

Manish Shaheen glanced up to look around before turning his attention back to his mini project, bored. He wouldn't have been in the Director's office if it weren't for Fury's insistence that all of them attend to report last night's mission.

Manish leaned against the wall to wait and see how things turned out. He had his own predictability of a myriad of possibilities in many situations. It was how his super mind worked as he liked to say. He saw this current one as being an inevitable outcome.

Alexa, on the other hand, hesitantly looked around the room before stopping at Fury in question. _What should they say to that? _She nervously wondered.

When Director Fury first brought her into SHIELD, it was indicated that he would find a way to utilize her talents without publicly acknowledging her mutant status as per her request. She soon met Manish, a super genius working mainly in the technology department of SHIELD. He began there nearly three years prior and had made quite a rising contribution to the agency's resources.

The pair quickly got along and that was saying something since the genius was very particular on who he could work with.

Manish first broke the silence and gave a nod towards Fury. "Secured,"

The man with the eyepatch stood up tall with authority.

"That is because Hartfield was directly needed to keep tabs on Casseas' gang to avoid another potential escape and to quickly find him again if he slipped out of sight. The chemical analysis was a cover that you, Donovan, have obviously exploited."

Alexa whipped her head back to the Director with wide eyes. "What?" She had no idea what to say. What was he doing?He promised not to reveal the real reason of her skills.

Coulsen gave Fury a knowing look as he stayed by the wall. "Told you it would be a waste to excuse while out of the lab." He said matter-of-factly.

Manish tightened one end of his gimmick as he added, "I was the one who bet it would take him longer to notice without a subtle nudge in the right direction."

"Cheat," Coulsen muttered, reaching into his wallet to pull out a crisp twenty-dollar bill.

Manish shrugged as he took it. "I cannot help to see the probable outcomes. You will someday learn not to bet the odds against a genius."

Donovan ignored the betting pair by the wall. He walked closer to the desk and put his hand down on it.

"What do you mean?" He demanded. Black huffed behind him.

"Simple, Agent Donovan." Fury replied smoothly. "Hartfield possesses the natural ability to track down her targets. Much as you have a natural tendency of taking dangerously brute forces directly that would easily kill any normal being, as recently exhibited by last night's ruffle."

It was Donovan's turn to become pale and speechless.

"Not to worry." Coulsen assured, "Any detailed video evidence towards _that_ was blotted out from the report."

"You are most welcome," Manish said without looking up.

"And written off as a durable body armor."

Shaheen added, "To which I am also working on the prototype for."

Alexa stared at her partner and friend. How come he never told her any of this before the meeting? No warnings whatsoever? It had obviously been discussed prior. Her friend ignored her gaze as he pulled out his enhanced mobile device and went at the keys.

"How?" Donovan asked, still in shock. Black remained silent and appeared to be deep in thought.

Fury stood in front of his desk, looking between the people of the room with seriousness.

"I am aware of much that goes on within SHIELD's organization. Including that I have individuals who hide that they possess extraordinary abilities, such as the four of you. I will assume that the extra details about each of your abilities will remain in confidentiality?"

They nodded in reponse, Donovan hesitant and Black as a second thought.

Phil Coulsen stepped forward. "Tracking people, high intelligence, energy durability, poison secretion…" He paused to turn to Fury. "Correct?"

The Director nodded. Coulsen continued, "We have kept your abilities hidden from public knowledge for quite some time, as we've done for a few others in the past."

Nick Fury leaned against his desk to survey the room. "It is my understanding that powerful beings such as mutants, have been shunned upon and feared for quite some time."

"Yes, sir." Alexa confirmed, her head down.

She frowned at personal events even 5 years ago of ridicule and suppression when spending time with fellow mutants while outside of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. It was still a sore spot.

She could only imagine what Bryce Donovan and others went through. The current expression on his face spoke that something happened in his past as well. It was hard to tell what Carmilla Black was thinking as she remained emotionless. Manish remained indifferent for the most part, but then Alexa already knew a little of his story.

Fury pulled her out of her downgrading thoughts, "I want to assure each of you, that while you work for SHIELD, you will not be exploited—unless that is what you choose to do."

Bryce finally found his voice again. "Then why have us all in the dark about each other during the mission?"

"It was hard to move around Agent Donovan's strong energy signature to find Agent Black." Alexa admitted, "More warning would have been preferred."

"Last night was a field test." Fury declared, "As I admit dismissal on my part for withholding detailed information, I wanted to see how all of you would work together naturally. We gained success in taking down a powerful threat."

"Albeit dangerously played," Carmilla said a bit harshly.

"Agreed," Bryce added, rubbing the top of his chest. He was fairly durable, but last night left him still sore. It had been a long time since he took on an energy attack like that.

"Warn us about another team up like that."

The pair of experienced field agents left the room. Coulsen was the first to turn his attention away from their departure.

"That went decent,"

"Hmm," Fury walked towards the window, deep in thought.

Alexa anxiously turned away from the door. She looked at Manish as if ready to say something, but thought the better of it. They could talk later in private. She needed to talk to Fury first.

"Director Fury?" Both seasoned agents turned towards her in inquiry.

"As glad as I am that you entrusted me to directly be a part of a field assignment, you could have better warned me about the other mutant agents."

"You informed me that you knew about Donovan," Fury supplied.

"Of that I sensed that he had a strong energy. Not what he could be capable of, much less how to work with him—and Agent Black."

"You didn't go in completely blind. It was two pairs of agents working collectively as a whole."

Manish put away his device to join in. He raised an eyebrow. "No doubt his field test that he had been waiting the perfect opportunity to experiment with." Fury didn't comment.

Alexa suppressed a sigh. "I suppose that sounds about right,"

Manish chuckled. "So long that he does not plan on adding us to his superhero dream team. What was it called…The Avengers Initiative?" The super genius gave a knowing smirk.

"The Avengers Initiative?" Alexa asked, confused.

Fury gave Manish a look. "Getting into encrypted files again, Shaheen?"

He shrugged, "Child's play."

Fury stepped away from his gazing out the window to turn to the remaining agents. "It was an idea, if you will, that I developed years ago after a near catastrophic event, that we would need special individuals to defend the Earth."

"And reopened a few months ago," Manish added, pulling out his phone in interest. "What prompted that I wonder?"

"Stark," Coulsen said. Fury gave his long-time agent friend a glare.

"Tony Stark? And his whole Iron Man fiasco?" Alexa pondered the implications. "Why would you consider us for your special team?"

"There are threats out there that no ordinary agent, much less person, can handle. As you've seen with Casseas and his group. Who knows what other threats lie out there?"

Fury put his hands behind his back and held his head high.

"I will need you all to be ready for anything."

* * *

_Now things are starting to go into motion. _

_Side note, Manish ("Mah-neesh") kind of took over as I was writing this chapter. WAY more than I originally intended. I've been watching Big Bang Theory lately and see him as a combination of a few characters. Especially Sheldon and Raj, the latter that I fan cast him as actually. There are few that Manish can really get along with. Alexa and Coulsen being a couple shown so far. Otherwise, he tolerates people the best he can, preferring to work solo._

_Don't forget to leave a review!_


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